The Tunze Blue Edition NanoStream 6045 is a special run of the powerful prop pump that celebrates ten years since Tunze’s introduction of the NanoStream. With so many large, small, controllable and affordable saltwater safe aquarium propeller pumps available on the market today, it’s easy to take water movement in a reef aquarium for granted.

But ten years ago we were not so lucky, and nearly all of us were using some form of internal powerhead for water motion inside the reef aquarium, or if we were lucky enough to have a large reef tank, maybe a power-hungry closed loop was employed to really move the water. We can still remember having batteries of MaxiJets, Hagens or Rio pumps placed right inside the tank with their high pressure and high velocity nozzles shooting water around like a firehose.

One of the first working NanoStream propeller pumps at Tunze

It was only in 2002 that Tunze released the first commercially available propeller pumps, the venerable Turbelle Stream pumps. These pumps were game changers in water motion for the reef aquarium, but these German-made pumps were hard to get, and quite expensive when initially released. It wasn’t until 2005 that Tunze released the NanoStream pump that a much bigger segment of the reef aquarium hobby really got to enjoy the benefits of propeller driven water movement, and the rest is history.

The Tunze 6045 is still available on the market, with lots of features that have been added on since its first release like vibration reducing rubber in the mount, mechanical flow adjustment between 400 and 1175 gallons per hour and it retails for $78.99. However if you’re a super fan of Tunze, or really like the color blue, you will be able to pick up a 10th anniversary Tunze Blue Edition NanoStream 6045 for about the same price later this fall.Readers also viewed: